Forum for a Free Press Bylaws revised 2/15/99 1. Three of the five Forum members, including at least one publications representative, shall constitute a quorum. An alternate member counts toward the quorum requirements if their presence has been requested in place of a member with a conflict of interest or previous commitment. 2. Forum will operate by modified consensus. If a consensus cannot be reached, then Forum will determine if a consensus exists to take a vote. If so, the decision will be made by majority vote. Otherwise, the issue will be tabled until the next Forum meeting. A date shall be set by the Forum after which a simple majority will decide funding issues for publications. 3. All meetings are open to the public and will be publicized as possible. 4. Budgeting for publications will take place during the spring semester for the coming academic year. Each case will be budgeted blindly; however, each publication may be evaluated in terms of its relative value to the Swarthmore community. This process must be well-publicized. 5. When publications submit funding applications during spring budgeting, one staff member who will continue on staff the following year must be present. 6. Meeting times will be set at a specified time set at the beginning of each semester. Meetings will be held for budgeting at the end of the spring semester. After that, meetings will be held as needed if internal issues or requests for additional funding must be resolved. 7. To ask for additional funds after spring budgeting, or to start a publication during the semester, students must email fffp@student-publications.swarthmore.edu with their grant application (details of which are specified in bylaw 13) 48 hours before the specified meeting time. They must then attend the Forum meeting at the appointed time and bring six copies of their grant application in the proper form for their proposal to be considered. 8. Members of Forum will be removed if they miss two consecutive meetings. Exceptions will be made if the student has informed the Student Publications Coordinator(s) of a legitimate scheduling conflict or sickness before the meeting, to be determined by the SPC. 9. Forum for a Free Press will allocate money in eight honorary subcodes -- (1) faxes, (2) phone expenditures, (3) copying, (4) publication, (5) refreshments, (6) photos, (7) supplies, and (8) story research. Refreshment funding can only be used for well-advertised public organizational and recruitment meetings intended to draw in prospective writers and staff members. 10. If any conflict of interest exists on an issue before Forum, the member (or Student Publications Coordinator) should remove themselves from the room while decisions are made. Such conflicts of interest could include but are not limited to cases in which publications request money from Forum when members or the Coordinator(s) edit or serve on the editorial staff of said publication, or have in the past. Another possible case is when members or the Coordinator(s) have been the subject of coverage that could impede their objectivity. If such a conflict of interest is apparent, the member or Coordinator(s) should remove themselves. If the member or Coordinator(s) have not immediately removed themselves, a member or Coordinator(s) should raise the issue and seek consensus that a conflict of interest exists. If that consensus is reached by all, including the member or Coordinator(s) in question, the member or Coordinator(s) will then remove themselves. 11. As with all SAF funding, Forum does not fund retroactively and is not responsible for overspending by publications. 12. Forum has no adjudicative power. If a member of the community or public believes that a publication has committed libel or other illegal actions, s/he should pursue legal action in a court of law. If a member of the community or public has a complaint against a publication and believes it should not be funded in the future, s/he may speak to Forum for an amount of time to be determined to detail their complaint and/or send their complaint in writing to fffp@student-publications.swarthmore.edu. 13. Publications that obtain outside funds through advertising or other sources may roll this money over in the BC accounting system from year to year. However, all publications must keep outside funds in the BC accounting system. 14. Grant applications must contain: • An organizational statement specifying who runs the publication, how these leaders are chosen, and how writers are solicited • A mission statement specifying what the publication is, how it adds to the quality and diversity of campus media and how the general student body benefits from it • A distribution plan of how the copies will be distributed in a manner that makes them accessible to the entire student body and a copy of the most recent issue of the publication • An account of how any grant money previously awarded has been spent broken down by subcode, an estimate of how any remaining funds will be used and, as of spring 2000, receipts accounting for the previous year • A budget detailing how grant money will be used broken down by subcode, including an estimate of the number of pages to be printed, the form of publication, cover type (if applicable), type of paper used, the number of copies, the type of binding used and the number of editions per semester • Publications must provide, under subcode (4), a detailed breakdown of its publications costs. The price of each element of the publication budget (e.g., cover, paper, color printing) must be specified • Publications will be required to disclose and account for all outside funds, both received and expected. Outside funding is unique in the respect that it may be used to fund activities or projects outside of the established subcodes. The Forum will require that at least 50% of a publication's yearly outside funding be spent on publication costs. Publications will be required to provide copies of last year's budget, and, beginning with Forum meetings in the spring of 2000, receipts of all purchases in the previous year. 15. Grantee publications must distribute at least 100 copies of each issue on the shelf next to the mailroom. 16. All publications must be printed by the day that finals begin in order to be funded. 17. Elections for Publications Representatives will be conducted by email each semester. The Coordinator will send an email to publications-heads@student-publications.swarthmore.edu soliciting platforms from candidates due one week following. Platforms must include relevant experience, the reasons for applying, and thoughts on Forum for a Free Press and how it could be improved. These platforms will be sent to publications-heads and elections will be conducted by email, with each publication receiving one vote. The losing candidate with the most votes each semester will serve as an alternate for one year. If representatives are elected unopposed, the Coordinator will solicit applications via publications-heads for the alternate position. The same procedures would then apply. 18. The two Publications representatives on Forum must be from different publications. Both publications and SC-appointed representatives may reapply after their terms end. 19. Forum decisions will be posted on the Forum web page, on the Public Access Folder on Wiggum, the Publications server in SC Parrish Dorm EN, and on the Forum bulletin board. 20. Major capital equipment cannot belong to an individual publication, even if the equipment is paid for in whole or in part with outside funds. All such equipment must be kept in the publications office for the use of all publications (and other interested students). This rule does not bar publications from contributing outside funds toward the purchase of major capital equipment which the Forum for a Free Press cannot persuade Budget Committee to acquire. An exception will be made for equipment which cannot feasibly be shared. In this case, Student Activity Funds may not be used and the publication much adequately demonstrate that the equipment cannot be feasibly shared. 21. Grant money may not be used to pay publications' staff members. The use of outside funds to pay any staff member will be carefully scrutinized by the Forum for a Free Press, and the grant to a publication that pays staff members will be reduced by the amount of such pay unless the publication can demonstrate 1) that individuals are chosen for paid positions through a fair and equitable hiring system; and 2) that paying staff members substantially increases the diversity and quality of campus media by improving that specific publication or increases the publication's outside revenue by an amount much greater than the amount of pay. The Student Budget Committee shall set a maximum level for commissions during spring budgeting. 22. Publications' grant money will stay in the BC accounting system. In addition, any outside revenue must stay in the BC accounting system. The BC treasurer shall disburse outside funds to a publication upon submission of receipts for purchases or completion of forms for cash advances as per FFFP approval. The BC treasurer shall seek instructions from Forum for a Free Press if any question arises about the propriety of using outside funds for any particular purpose, and Forum for a Free Press shall decide such questions according to spending rule 6. Decisions under this rule may be appealed by the process explained above. 23. Inappropriate use of funds will be grounds for denial of future funding. 24. In the event of an appeal to Budget Committee and/or Student Council, Forum will send a delegation of one or two representatives and the Student Publications Coordinator to explain its decision.